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Friday, July 7, 2017

Leviticus 23

I think I have settled the classes of sacrifices (for now). They are almost all mentioned in this chapter. (The word for endowments, מתן, is a bit of a surprise. As 'gift', I have seen it only as a bribe. I would have expected מנהח here. מתן is also glossed as waist or loins.)

אשׁ an offering by fire, or more commonly 87% of the time, it's just fire.
זבח is the regular word for altar, offer, and sacrifice.
כליל a whole offering .
כפר a cover-offering, or cover-price, or cover. Possible puns include crock, lion cub, frost, and henna. It is also the root for mercy seat. Atonement is the traditional English rendering in the context of offering.
מנחה a gift.
נדב a freewill offering. The same letters are the root for prince, and the word may be simply willing.
נוף a wave offering, also brandish, elevate, sprinkle, wave.
נסך a libation offering, also molten metal, molten image, spill out.
עלה a burnt offering, also ascend, bring, come or go, each with the idea of coming up, bringing up, going up, also leaf and trim, as in trimming lamps.
קרב an oblation, also simply approach, bring near, come near, draw near, close combat, near, nearby, within.

oops, forgot the peace offerings (שׁלם), and the sin offerings (חטא) ... In both these cases the gloss offering is added to the regular gloss (sin / peace) based on the context. [also must deal with the offering I have simply called a contribution, from רום]

Words indicating different classes of offerings.

This list is now 'together' in my set of domains. [It is short enough that I could probably include other ritual actions like the actions of daubing (נתן) and dashing (זרק) of blood and incense (ק+ר).] It is also incomplete. Undoubtedly some words not yet translated are attached to the wrong stem and therefore also to the wrong domains, but they will turn up eventually.

I spent some time on this in the past few days. It is an idea for additional control over concordance and over getting a handle on language, particularly the words in the canon. These words within my subdomain of OFFER occur with the frequency shown in the doughnut graph. I could spend a whole lifetime on this study, obviously. I haven't put much functionality into the domain-subdomain concept yet since my glossary is still emerging and will be in flux for some time to come. I will do a number of posts if I can on my methods and software. I am sure other people have comparable tools. I keep asking the question, Does language really work this way? Can I subject it to such mechanics?

There are many other things summarized in this chapter: feasts, Sabbaths, conclaves, convocations, appointed times and so on.

Sorry for the arcane morrow but I had to distinguish this usage of אהר from בקר morning. And there aren't many synonyms for morning in English.

Neither bread nor parched grain nor from the plantation will you eat until this selfsame day, until you have brought the oblation of your God,
a statute forever for your generations, in all your settlements.

And you will bring near with the bread, seven young yearling he-lambs complete, and one young bull of the herd, and two rams.
They will be a burnt offering to Yahweh and their gifts and their libations, an offering by fire, a restful fragrance for Yahweh.

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you will not finish the quarter of a field when you reap, and the gleaning of your harvest, you will not glean.
You will forsake them for the poor and for the guest. I am Yahweh your God.

But on the tenth of this seventh month, a day of the cover-offerings it is, a holy convocation it will be for you, and you will afflict yourselves,
and you will bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh.

Seven days you will bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh.
On the eighth day, a holy convocation it will be for you, and you will bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. It is a conclave. All the lines of work for service you will not do.

These are the appointed times of Yahweh which you will proclaim, holy convocations,
to bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a gift offering, and a libation, as designated day by day.

Surely on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you have gathered the income of the land, you will keep the feast, the feast of Yahweh, seven days,
on the first day, a Sabbath and on the eighth day, a Sabbath.

And you will take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a tree of honour, palm branches of palm trees, and bough of a thick tree, willows of the wadi,
and you will be glad before Yahweh your God seven days.